Best Guitarists

[chopperfan666]

2 part question for all u MAPers,
First- who do u think is the greatest living guitarist right now
Second- who do u think is the greatest deceased guitarist
(please state why for both parts)

---chris---

[KickChick]

For me.... my most favorite is Carlos Santana as the best living guitarist.... (although there are several others as well I can add).
His playing is so melodic, soulful & distinctive .... my necks hairs stand on end when I hear him play.

Greatest deceased guitarist?... would naturally have to say Jimi just for blazing the trail for others with his rock guitar innovation.

Running a close second is Stevie Ray Vaughan ... playing his intense style of electric blues ...

... both dying way before their time.

[davethekodiak]

living- jimmy page, the work horse behind zep, my altime fave band

RIP- SRV, the best version of vodoo chile,in my opinion better than jimis

[jonmonk]

The greatest living plank spankers have gotta be Steve Vai and Joe Satriani for me. I've seen Vai twice, the second time was on the G3 tour with Satriani. Splendid it was :D

[Omicron]

My personal favourite living guitar player is probably either Herb Ellis or Ed Bickert. Although, you have to give props to Les Paul for actually inventing the electric guitar.

Deceased? There are too many good ones to pick a favourite. Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Howard Roberts, and Django Reinhardt were all amazing guitarists.

[GojuKJoe]

I can't really pick one or two, so I'll pick these

Eddie Van Halen - He pretty much, single handedly re defined the way a guitar can be played
Steve Vai - He is technically the best guitarist I've heard of so far
Joe Satriani - Technically amazing, yet has a bit more soul than Vai
Eric Clapton - Has a lot of soul, and doesn't have the "look how fast I can play" ego

Deceased

Jimi Hendrix - I don't think I need to explain

[Brunstick]

for me, the best living guitarists are steve vai and joe satriani. they're both really technical players.


"the yngwie malmsteen" is a good player, i don't like his attitude though. "i am yngvay! i play like this: 'meedly meedly meedly meedly meeeeee!!!'"

jason becker's rendition of paganini's caprice 24 totally blew my mind!

for the dead players, i have to say jimi hendrix. definitely jimi hendrix.

-nico-

[DaveMustaine]

My favorite player is by far Marty Friedman (ex Megadeth). He can shred but he's totally tasteful about it, and his phrasing is a perfect example of how the guitar should be played. As far as best guitarist right now, that's tough. There are tons of relatively unknown internet shredders with rediculous technique.

[Brunstick]

why hasn't anyone posted about brad delson yet? :rolleyes:

-nico-

[BelmontDrew]

Alive - No Question, Edward Van Halen. Name someone who played a guitar like that before 1978. Now tell me who played like that after 1978.

Dead - SRV. Voodoo Chile, Little Wing. This may sound Blasphemous but he plays Jimi better than Jimi.

[freestyler]

Slash is my favourite guitarist no question, but I like joe Satriani and Jimi Hendrix as well

[Bitter Bliss]

i dont have an order sorry, but felt i had to add these guys to the list...

*John Fruschante* - Chilli Peppers, everyone know his band, he's a king, but his solo stuff is kinda in the background, you should really check it out.

*Jack White* - love the way he combines lead with rythem when playing live

*Kurt Cobain* - have a feeling ppl may diss, although his guitar work inspired so much, Nirvana were an amazing band!! his unplugged stuff is a real treasure too.

all three are amazing in there own ways and all inspried me to pick up the guitar for diferent reasons.

[slipthejab]

Don't know if there is a 'best' - but if I had to take a stab at it - probably something like this...

Chuck Berry - without him there wouldn't be a lot of mofo's even playin! :D

And the boys layin' down the real deal before him were some of the blues players.

Blues-

John Lee Hooker - confounded people with his rhythm and timing

Lightin' Hopkins - talked the talk and walked the walk

BB King if you've seen him live you know what's up

Jazz

Les Paul (he invented the electric guitar fer christ sakes!!!)

Wes Montgomery

Django Rheinhardt

Gabor Szabo (Hungarian Jazz guitarist)

Others in other genres that I like would be

Jack Johnson - former surfer and surf cinematographer bringing the guitar back to the limelight with his playing and melodies!

West Africa is where a lot of the blues rhythms that became American blues and what the world knows as rock and roll originated eons ago... so for my favorite of the past 5 years I'd have to go with...

ALI FARKA TOURE the incredibley talented musician from Mali. :D

[Winston Smith]

Pete Townshend then Joey Santiago.
the best bassist is Jon Chapple

[Brunstick]

i also like eric johnson. manhattan and cliffs of dover are the bomb!

-nico-

[TheMightyMcClaw]

I have to say Yngwie Malmsteen for living. I remember the first time I heard Yngwie.... it was also, curiously, the first time a piece of music had ever blown my mind.

For dead folks, Jimi Hendrix definitely gets mention. So does that guy from Finntroll who got drunk and fell down a flight of stairs.

[jasonservis]

living = Joe Satriani, If Vai is a master of guitarists satch is no doubt the grandmaster!(vai would be second though) :D

dead = Randy Rhoads, diary of a madman,dee,small samples of the man's musical genius!!

Theres just so many others that are truely gifted and like listening too.

Rock on!, JS

[metallicafanrik]

i'd have to say satch for a living guitarist, i just love his legato style, yet he can still blast out a shredding run, or a mode scale at absurd speeds

deceased im going with dimebag :Angel: because i just loved his style, attitude an awesome signature guitars

[metallicafanrik]

there again, i also think ynwie malmsteem is greatly underrated, and my main man randy rhoads. two words - crazy train

[beef]

My favourite living are:

Slash - GNR
John Christ - Danzig
Tom Morello - RATM - great feedback sound
James Hetfield/Kirk Hammett - Metallica
Dexter Holland/Noodles - Offspring
Angus Young - AC/DC
Joe Perry - Aerosmith
Noel Gallagher - Oasis

All fantastic riff players

Dead:
Jimi Hendrix
Kirk Cobain

Both fore-runners of a genre of music

[zanflad]

Hendrix was easily the greatest of all time, as to who is the best alive today i could not say.

[Kwajman]

Saying he was "easily" the best is a pretty broad statement. But then we'll never know will we?

[TigerAn1]

I gotta say Slash, and I'm not from the Slash era. The guy's intense.

Deceased - Jimmy Hendrix by a nose over SRV. Photo finish.


All Time Best: Jimmy Hendrix :woo:

[aikiMac]

Eric Clapton. I love his sound. I'm a Blues fan. But the guy is just sooo good.

Deceased is harder to pick. Perhaps Stevie Ray Vaughan over Lightin' Hopkins by a nose -- again, amazing talent and I like their Blues.

(I know Hendrix and BB King are giants in the guitar world, and with good reason, but I don't like their songs as much, so they don't win in my book.)

[Albert]

Living... Steve vai, cuz i dont really know many amazing guitarists, but vai is wicked.

Dead... uhm...i guess id have to go with hendrix, cuz the same reason as above, and for obvious reasons i mean hendrix was cool.


Kirk Cobain

^^please tell me there's a kirk cobain, and you werent actually misspelling KURT COBAIN.

[murphy81]

For me, definetlely Noel Gallagher, Eric Clapton or Rory Gallagher. Was raised listening to the latter two, now listening to Noel Gallagher, but im nowhere near playing like him!

Also love Clapton's blues stuff - Saw him at Royal Albert Hall years ago doing a Blues gig with his band, Nathan East, and that nutter on the percussion!! I forget his name

[RobP]

A couple guys not mentioned yet - Richie Blackmore (if nothing else then for the most famous riff ever) and Arthur Lee (Love).

Jimi has to be tops though....

[tel]

For me, definetlely Noel Gallagher, Eric Clapton or Rory Gallagher. Was raised listening to the latter two, now listening to Noel Gallagher, but im nowhere near playing like him!

Also love Clapton's blues stuff - Saw him at Royal Albert Hall years ago doing a Blues gig with his band, Nathan East, and that nutter on the percussion!! I forget his name
yeah def noel gallagher
slash

[ThaiBxr]

Clapton

[pmitch89]

pshh... the truth is there is no "Best" guitarist, just different styles, but if I had to chose my top 10 it would go something like this:

Preston's Top 10 Guitarists:

-John Petrucci (Dream Theater)
-Joe Satriani
-Michael Romeo (Symphony X)
-Steve Vai
-Marty Friedman (1990 Megadeth)
-Dave Mustaine (Megadeth)
-Buckethead
-Ywengie Malmsteen
-Randy Rhodes (1980's Ozzy)
-Jerry C

There you go, my top 10 "Best" guitarists.

[jsmith]

I don't play guitar (or any musical instrument), so I'm not qualified to say who the "best" is; I'll just say the two that give me the most pleasure to listen to.

Alive: David Gilmore - He's not as intense as the previously mentioned guitarists, but I find him so pleasant to listen to.

Dead: Stevie Ray Vaughan - Doesn't need an explanation why, he's Stevie Ray Vaughan!

[slipthejab]

Deceased is harder to pick. Perhaps Stevie Ray Vaughan over Lightin' Hopkins by a nose -- again, amazing talent and I like their Blues.

WOW!
Someone actually posted Lightnin' Hopkins.
He's be the man - he's a true Texas original.
Try playing some of his stuff... it'll drive you to drink. :D


SAM "LIGHTNIN' " HOPKINS (1912-1982) -- Blues singer and guitarist Lightnin' Hopkins played for Queen Elizabeth II at a command performance and once served time in the Houston County Jail in Texas. A native of Centerville, Hopkins made his first guitar out of a chicken box. He recorded under 20 labels, but his audience remained small until 1959, when he hit the big time. In the 1960s he performed at New York's Carnegie Hall with Pete Seeger and Joan Baez. Hopkins also worked with such groups as the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane. A prolific songwriter, he often wove his own life story and the plight of blacks into his compositions.

[slipthejab]

Judging by what's been posted here this next musician may be a bit off the beaten path for most here... but he's well worth checking out if you're interested in the roots of blues music - this has been a hot topic amongst musicologist for a very long time.

The musician I speak of is Ali Farka Toure -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Farka_Toure

http://www.leopardmannen.no/t/toure.ali.farka.asp



Ali Farka Toure

Ali Farka Toure was born in 1939 in Gourmararusse (in the Timbuktu region), Mali, into the noble Sorhai family. Being of noble birth, he should never have taken up music. His family disapproved because the musician profession is normally inherited in Malian society and the right to play belongs to the musician families. However, being a man of determination and independence, once he decided to take up music, there was no stopping him.

Ali Farka Toure took up the guitar at the age of ten, but it wasn't until about age 17 that he really got a handle on the instrument. In 1950 he began playing the gurkel, a single string African guitar that he chose because of its power to draw out the spirits. He also taught himself the njarka, a single string fiddle that is today a popular part of his performance. Then in 1956, Ali Farka Toure saw a performance by the great Guinean guitarist Keita Fodeba in Bamako. He was so moved that he decided then and there to become a guitarist. Teaching himself, Alila Farka Toure adapted traditional songs using the techniques he had learned on the gurkel.

During a visit to Bamako in the late 1960's, artists such as Ray Charles, Otis Redding and most importantly John Lee Hooker introduced Ali Farka Toure to African-American music. At first, he thought that Hooker was playing Malian music, but then realized that this music coming from America had deep African roots. Ali Farka Toure was also inspired by Hooker's strength as a performer and began to incorporate elements into his own playing. During those years Ali Farka Toure composed, sang and performed with the famous Troupe 117, a group created by the Malian government after the country's independence.

Ali Farka Toure trained as a sound engineer, a profession he practiced until 1980, when he had saved enough money to become a farmer, which he is to this day. His recording career began in France in 1976, but that phase of it ended poorly, as Toure was never properly compensated. For years he followed a successful career in West Africa adapting traditional songs and rhythms in ten languages from Mali's enormous cultural wealth. This career was combined with a life rooted in his village. While touring widely in Africa and also occasionally in Europe and America, Toure preferred the security of his village life, family and friends, crops and livestock

In 1990, Toure abandoned music in order to tend to his farm, in his native Timbuktu. His producer managed to convince him otherwise and to return to his guitar. Two years later, he recorded the famous CD Talking Timbuktu with American guitarist Ry Cooder. The album won a Grammy award.

Despite the success with Talking Timbuktu, Ali Farka Toure wasn't willing to leave his rice farm in Mali to record an album. Producer Nick Gold had to set up the equipment in an abandoned brick hall in Niafunke, Mali, using portable equipment and gasoline generators to compensate for the fact that Toure's hometown has no power lines. The crew had to wait till Farka Toure was done with his chores and ready to play the guitar. Farka Toure said: "We were in the middle of the landscape which inspired the music and that in turn inspired myself and the musicians. . . . In the West, perhaps this music is just entertainment and I don't expect people to understand."

In 2004 Ali Farka Toure was appointed mayor of the Niafunke region of Mali. Ali has remained extremely loyal to his homeland and spends most of his time in the area, working on his farm. Ali's key election promises to his constituents included tackling the malaria problem, cleaning up the region, and establishing a tree planting project.

In January of 2004, World Circuit's Nick Gold was recording Ali Farka Toure's first album in five years. The guitarist and his longtime producer from World Circuit invited Toumani Diabate to join Toure for one track: the traditional Malian song, "Kaira." Without rehearsal, the duo improvised a version of the piece and quickly began recording another. The collaboration was so successful Nick Gold suggested they create an entire album together.

In 2004, Ali Farka Toure was elected mayor of his home town of Niafunke. In July of 2004, Nick Gold took his World Circuit team and their longtime engineering collaborator Jerry Boys (Buena Vista Social Club) to Bamako, Mali to record In the Heart of the Moon. They set up a mobile studio in the Hotel Mande in Bamako, overlooking the Niger River and recorded the album there in three two-hour sessions. Drawing on a body of traditional songs familiar to both men, Toure and Diabate again began without rehearsing together beforehand. Only one song required a second take-because it had been interrupted by a rainstorm.

In the Heart of the Moon was the first of a trilogy of albums Nick Gold's label recorded at the Hotel Mande. The record also includes subtle contributions from Ry Cooder on piano and guitar; Sekou Kante and Cachaíto López on bass; and Joachim Cooder and Olalekan Babalola on percussion. In the Heart of the Moon won a world music Grammy in 2005.

Ali Farka Toure died March 7, 2006, from bone cancer.

source: http://worldmusiccentral.org/artists/artist_page.php?id=1093

Sadly he's recently passed away - but you can still enjoy his music. :)

Note: for anyone that is heavy into their blues music - you can't ignore the connections between the Delta blues of John Lee Hooker and the music of Ali Farka Toure. Note the similarity in timing style of phrasing and hypnotic rhythms... an interesting point is the connection with the land they both had... they both had come from rural areas and both had worked on farms. Surely this is born out in the musical legacy they've left.

[Durkhrod Chogori]

Which guitar style??

Doomed thread.


Well when it comes to rock and roll (I assume this is what is this thread is all about) then:

1. Michael Schenker since every time I listen to UFO's the album "Strangers in the Night" I get chicken skin with Schenker's diabolic riffs.

2. Hendrix. What can I say about this man. He was born with a electric guitar under his arm and also died with it. I guess man, you can call yourself free now, your spirit roaming free in Samsara, hopefully still playing somewhere... :cry:

[Humblebee]

Bert Jansch-the acoustic Hendrix
Nick Drake- another acoustic legend

[tom pain]

Van Halen. Some of the stuff he does with an electric guitar is crazy. Plus the solo from the Michael Jackson song 'Beat It' is immense.

Cool Van Halen video. (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1947917209390029777&q=halen)

My favorite parts are the bit he does near the end from Eruption and the bit on 3:34 where it sounds robotic - amazing stuff.

[The Kestrel]

Living: Edward Van Halen. Several songs explain it for me.

Dead: Aside from Hendrix, gotta say Rhoads and Dimebag Darrell.

[ryanTKD]

Jimmy Page

[TigerDude]

I agree with EVH living (altho I really don't like his stuff much) and SRV deceased.

[watto86]

We've had this discussion before. I think last time it resulted in Agutrot telling everyone that Jimmy Hendrix sucks. lol

Picking my fav guitar player is tough. So please forgive me for writing so many.

I'd say:
Fav living: Michael Angelo Batio, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, Kerry King, Alexi Laiho, Jeff Hanneman, Dave Murray, Eddie Van Halen, Uffe Cederlund, Bob Rusay, Adrian Smith, Jack Owen, Pat O'Brien, Roope Latvala, Alex Hellid, Vegard Tveitan, and the list goes on, and on and on... i've enjoyed all these guys works over the years.

I don't know of many dead guitarists that i've listened to a lot, or at least not many come to mind. So i'll have to say Darrel Abott and Oystein Aarseth.

[Athleng Nordic]

Living I would have to to say Pete Townsend, why because he just is. As for deceased that's easy Robert Johnson the Delt Bluesman who pioneered the foundation for most of the music we listen to today.

[Ninja.. OF DOOM]

As for living, I'd probably say Eddie Van Halen. Just listen to Eruption, and you'll see why.

All time, I think the best guitarist, without question, is Jimi Hendrix. I love this guy's music. Not only is he the best rock guitarist, but the best blues guitarist as well. You see a number of blues songs written by him, though most of his rock and roll songs also have a bluesy type feel or influence in them. Really, he was a musical genius. (or it may have just been the weed ;) )His soloing was incredible, the way he could wail out on that guitar. This guy was made for the guitar, made to play the guitar, and he really paved the road for rock guitarists and rock and roll itself after him.